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Rush Limbaugh was the radio celebrity to catch the ear of NBC and ABC. Both networks' White House correspondents covered Limbaugh's appearance at CPAC. ABC's Jake Tapper told us that "Limbaugh brought a convention full of conservatives to their feet over the weekend." NBC's Chuck Todd reminded us about the build-up to Newt Gingrich's revolution of 1994: "The last time Republicans were in the political wilderness, Limbaugh helped lead them out." At issue was Limbaugh's avowed wish that Barack Obama's economic policies should be unsuccessful: "I hope he fails."
ABC's Tapper saw the White House "pounce," posing the question to Limbaugh's ideological soulmates whether they too wished for fiscal failure in the midst of a recession. "That question has resulted in discord in conservative ranks," Tapper judged. NBC's Todd was not so convinced that Rush was such a useful wedge to splinter the right wing: "This feud presents risks for both parties," he mused. "Does the President want to be in a partisan food fight with a talkradio host? Do the Republicans want Limbaugh as their face?"
CBS turned to its in-house radio star for its closer. Charles Osgood paid tribute to his colleague and rival Paul Harvey of ABC Radio, who started his national broadcast in 1951 and is now dead at age 90. Osgood quoted Harvey: "Radio is the ultimate visual medium." He admired his writing--"he would create word pictures"--and his delivery--"that fantastic voice of his and the inflections and the pauses."
Listening to Harvey read copy was like listening to jazz.
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